How many times have you not started the year with new and new plans, only to give up within a month? How many times have you started a diet only to go back to your habits a week later? Or did you plan to go to the gym 3 times a week, but your membership is unused? Have you set out to work on your dream project every day, but every day you say tomorrow? And then, to make the menu complete, you start to blame yourself for not being able, that you can’t?
And yet you want to find the motivation to do all these things, do you want to become more disciplined because you know this will help you get results day by day? Do you want to get rid of the feeling that your life is chaotic? And feel that you have a more fulfilled life and are more aligned with yourself?
I want to talk to you today about motivation because it fuels discipline.
Motivation is the totality of reasons that determine an action. Motivation is talked about positively, and yet there are both positive and negative reasons that drive you to action. The first step is to become aware of these reasons and then use them to train the muscle of discipline.
Today, I want to introduce you to the 7 reasons behind our actions according to Aristotle’s Theory of Motivation, Book 1, Chapter 10. Aristotle concluded that there are 7 motivational factors for our actions, generated either by emotions or by the mind: reason chance, the natural, impulsiveness, habit, anger, passion, and appetite for pleasure.
- The random reason. Yes, you heard right, the first motivational factor that can spur you to action is an event. Have you ever met someone you know who talks to you with incredible energy and passion about what they do? As you listen to him, do you realize that he’s talking about things that you, deep down, have been wanting to do for a long time? And isn’t it that even though you’re happy for that person, you also feel a wave of regret? But what do you see, this meeting turns into your trigger, because you get home and stop thinking, you act with enthusiasm and discipline.
- The natural is that motivational factor that has an internal and approximately fixed cause, and which occurs regularly. You might find it hard to turn off Netflix after midnight when you’re binge-watching a show, but you’ll be motivated if you do. Why? Because you are sleepy and have a natural need to sleep, so you act accordingly.
- Impulsivity. Actions based on impulsivity are those that motivate you to do something against your rational mind and conscious desires. Maybe you already have a healthy lifestyle and still feel the urge to eat something unhealthy or skip a workout from time to time. It takes a lot of self-control to be able to deal with these impulsive needs.
- The custom. Habit is a motivational factor and will make you act without thinking too much because it feels like second nature to you. Habits are built over time and will automatically generate action. It is important to realize that habits are both positive and negative. Maybe you have the habit of reading every day before going to bed for half an hour. Maybe you have a habit of smoking a cigarette every morning with your coffee. The latter becomes a negative habit if you have set out to have a healthy lifestyle.
- Fury. This factor is purely emotional and can motivate you to act in a way that is not beneficial to you. You are so angry that you don’t care about your moral or physical integrity and act against someone else regardless of the consequences.
- The passion. Passion is a powerful motivational factor. It has both positive and negative undertones. Have you ever been so passionate about a subject that you talk endlessly about it, without listening to the opinion of those around you? But when you use passion to your advantage, it helps to train discipline. Perhaps you happened to work on something with enthusiasm and passion, precisely because you liked the subject. Didn’t you consider yourself disciplined in those moments?
- The appetite for pleasure. Desires can irrationally motivate you and act against your best interest. Have you ever gone to the supermarket to buy a few specific things and found yourself at home with a full basket, without needing the extra things and without having planned to spend money on them?
These 7 reasons are what underlie your actions and their awareness can make you a disciplined person or not. Maybe you think of motivation only in a positive sense and think that if you had a little more motivation you would succeed in what you set out to do. But it doesn’t mean that if you have motivation, you will also have discipline.
I want to give you a personal example: how I set out to make going to the gym 3 times a week a habit, knowing that if I do this the act of going to the gym will become my second nature and happen automatically. I worked with this goal in mind and a few things I knew about myself.
A year ago, I made it a point to start a sports program and follow it with discipline. Although I have an athletic nature, finding the motivation to maintain a consistent schedule was not easy, even though I knew I wanted to be fit and healthy.
- I have found extrinsic motivation to be effective for me. So I set out to work with a trainer for at least 6 months. I knew this would keep me motivated until the exercise habit turned from an extrinsic motivation to an intrinsic one. As I like to keep my word, I was consistent and did not miss training.
- I like to wake up early in the morning, I chose a gym and a trainer that allows training starting at 7 am, and that is close to home.
- I followed the schedule, going to the gym 3 times a week, starting at 7. It was difficult at first to stay consistent, but the fact that I had a set schedule with the trainer made me continue and not miss the workouts.
I noticed that my motivation changed and that I no longer needed external impulses when the coach had an extended vacation, about 6 months into the program. Going to the gym 3 times a week had become a habit, which I keep to this day without being tempted to give it up.
The first step you need to take to practice discipline is to become aware of what motivates you to act both positively and negatively. This understanding will determine how effectively you will practice the discipline to achieve your goals.
->Take this exercise with you:
- For 30 days write down the actions you take.
- Identify the reasons behind each action.
- Write down what the negative and positive reasons are.
- Work with the positives and those that benefit you to train the muscle of discipline.
Discipline is the foundation for building your life aligned with you and your values. Discipline is the foundation of the 4D Pyramid. If you want to identify the reasons behind your actions and train your discipline with a specialist, write to me.
